If there is one phrase guaranteed to make Richard Osman squirm, it is “cosy crime”. When we talk on the phone, the Pointless presenter turned crime writer is the model of owlish geniality we see on TV. But mention that his mega-selling The Thursday Murder Club books have got him branded “the king of cosy crime” and his cheeriness slightly falters.

How would he define the Osman brand? “The nice thing about having been on TV is people sort of know who I am – it would be quite hard to hide your true self over 14 years on telly,” he ventures. “So I think they know that I wish to make the world a slightly better place by any means necessary. That’s sort of the brand, I guess.” Let’s see what his critics make of that.I won’t rehash the plot since it’s been thoroughly reviewed by others at this point, other than to say it involves a stolen box with a valuable stash inside, the darker side of the antiques trade and forgery, a side story about romance fraud and, of course, murder! Because of course, there is always more than one mystery to solve in these, and the little reveals at the end are usually even more fun than the BIG REVEAL.

I'm always sad when I get to the end of another book in the Thursday Murder Club series but I know there's more to come from these septuagenarians. It may be a bit longer wait this time around for Book #5 but I'll be here for it when it's published. There’s also a subplot about a romance scam. As someone who dealt with a mother taken in by one, I loved how the team dealt with it. You know that the author can write great characters that are humorous, he can certainly write funny, he knows where the jokes can be inserted to make you smile and laugh but what I didn’t anticipate is the writer’s way of dissecting pain and sorrow and put it in wonderful words for us to read. So here’s the anticipated effect, in one chapter you are sobbing and in another you are laughing very hard, you would be looked at as unstable but that’s this book for you. So you are warned, no reading in public places or all the seats next to you will be vacated.

Select a format:

Last week, Sally Rooney’s third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You topped the UK’s charts with sales of 46,065 copies. This week, Rooney’s novel sits at No 4 in the overall charts, with 19,782 copies sold. Bob Mortimer’s And Away… sits behind Osman in second place, having sold 42,094 copies.

I cannot think of another series with a more moving exploration of love after a lifetime together, and The Last Devil To Die reduced me to tears at more than one point.” Osman was born in 1970 and grew up near Hayward’s Heath in West Sussex. His father walked out on the family when he was nine, leaving his mother, Brenda, to scrape together a living as a teacher to raise Osman and his brother, the Suede bassist (and now author) Mat. “Money was always incredibly tight,” he says. “But I’m very fortunate that that hasn’t been a problem for a while.” I have to warn you though, this book feels like the series' most intimate and emotional one yet, so get the tissues ready. Osman doesn't shy away from talking about growing old and dying. In fact, couched in all that humor and sleuthing is the ever-present specter of death coming for everyone, especially when you are of a certain old age. As I wrote I realized what a fascinating time being in your 70s is, because you’ve probably had the most experience you’re ever going to haveIn many ways, it would actually have been more of a surprise if the books weren’t a hit. As Osman says, readers love crime fiction and they really love warm depictions of England. But what is truly special in the books are the characters, whose age allows for a beautiful kind of interaction. “Everyone in Britain is obsessed with class, of course. In your career it’s very easy to stay in the middle class, to stay in the working class. At school and towards the end of your life, suddenly you’re thrown in with people again,” he says, noting that the book’s core group includes two middle class characters and two that are working class. “My mom lives in a retirement community and honestly, it just reminds me of a university campus, but where no one has to do any essays so they can get up and pretty much do what they want all the time. They take different pills, but they drink just as much.” The mysteries are complex, the characters vivid, and the whole thing is laced with warm humor and—remarkably, considering the body count—good feeling. Your next must-read mystery series.” Elizabeth’s husband Stephen’s dementia is progressing – something Osman, whose grandparents both had the condition, portrays heartbreakingly. He feels a responsibility. “I’m not going to write something that represents everyone’s experience of it. I’m trying to write one man’s experience of it and I’m trying to write a man who has dignity and wit and warmth.” Osman got married last year to the actor Ingrid Oliver, whom he met when she was a contestant on House of Games (Photo: David M Benett/Getty Images) Other characters in my books are constantly being outsmarted by the four protagonists. Even the police officer, Chris, thinks, ‘I must be polite to these people’ and then realizes he doesn’t need to be at all. They twist people around their little fingers, but of course, in the end, everyone is firm friends. But what about those imitators – the way that his success has launched a wave of novels in the same, whisper it, “cosy crime” vein, with covers to match? ( The Reverend Richard Coles’ are the most famous, but there are also the likes of A Spoonful of Murder by JM Hall and Ian Moor’s Death and Croissants.) Are his books doing well at the expense of other types of crime? “In terms of publishing genres, there’s always something,” Osman says. “When I started writing these books everything was a dark, psychological thriller with an unreliable narrator. So publishing just moves in whatever cycles that it wants to. But I only have one job and that is to write the book that I want to write, and write the book that I want to read.”

Holliday Grainger as Robin Ellacott and Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike in the TV adaptation of JK Rowling’s series. Photograph: Steffan Hill/McAinsh/PAPrior to his career as a successful novelist, Richard Osman was an active TV presenter and participant in comedy panel shows. Comedy panel shows are typically irregular rotations of different famous comedians and presenters, so you'll have to flip around to find Richard Osman's appearances – but he's a main host for Pointless. It’s wonderful to see how many people have fallen in love with Richard’s fabulous Thursday Murder Club and simply couldn’t wait to read the next instalment,” said his publisher Joanna Prior, managing director of Penguin General. “The response to these characters and the crimes they solve from readers around the world has been extraordinary and it has been a joy to work with retailers to make publication week such a big moment for everyone to share in.” I’ve just filmed another 100 House of Games. We filmed 300 shows during the pandemic—all safely too. I’m about to do another 100 Pointless episodes too, and I’m writing the third installment of The Thursday Murder Club now, which will be out next Autumn.